The Americas
1492–1521 Initial Contact
1492 Oct. 12, Columbus lands in the Americas
1493 Pope Alexander VI divides discovered lands between Portugal and Spain
1502 First black slaves arrive in the Americas
1503 Queen Isabella permits the encomienda system in Hispaniola
1508 Papal bull gives Spanish crown nearly total control of the church in the Americas
1511 Antonio Montesinos protests treatment of Indians in Hispaniola
1514 Bartolomé de Las Casas dedicates his life to defending the Indians
1519-1521 Cortés conquers the Aztecs of Mexico
1521–1551 Early Missions
1524 Twelve Franciscans (“Twelve Apostles of New Spain”) arrive in Mexico; Dominicans follow within decade
1527 Juan de Zumárraga appointed bishop of Mexico City and “protector of the Indians”
1530 Diocese of Mexico City created; African slaves now imported in large numbers
1531 Virgin Mary said to appear to Juan Diego, beginning cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe
1531-1533 Francisco Pizarro conquers the Incas of Peru; Dominicans begin evangelizing Peru
1537 Pope declares Indians are rational creatures capable of receiving Christianity
1542-43 The New Laws, designed to protect Indians, enacted (but rarely enforced)
1549 Jesuits come to Brazil and soon found reducciones, Indian villages
1550-51 Las Casas and Sepúlveda debate the justice of Spain’s conquest of the Americas
1551–1600 Church Consolidation
1551 First Council of Bishops in Lima, Peru, begins organizing Latin American church
1553 University of Mexico founded. With University Of Lima (1522), first major universities in New World
1562 Luis Beltrán, America’s first saint, begins ministry on behalf of Indians in Colombia
1570-71 Inquisition formally set up in Peru and Mexico
1581 Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo becomes archbishop of Lima and serves the Indians
1582-83 Third Council of Lima institutes catechisms in Indian languages and other church reforms
1600–1810 Resurgence & Affluence
1605 In Paraguay, Jesuits begin their most successful reducciones
1610 Mission of Santa Fe (New Mexico) established; Pedro Claver, “Slave to the Negroes,” begins ministry in Colombia
1691-1711 Eusebio Kino works with Indians in New Mexico and Arizona
1718 In Texas, the San Antonio mission (the Alamo) founded
1767 Jesuits, suspected of holding too much power and wealth, are expelled from Spanish dominions by order of King Charles III
1769 In California, Franciscan Junípero Serra founds mission at San Diego; eventually 21 missions established
1807-08 Napoleon Bonaparte invades Spain and Portugal, becoming a catalyst for Latin American independence movements
World Events
1492–1521 Initial Contact
1492 Ferdinand and Isabella’s forces drive Moors from Spain
1500 First black-lead pencils used in England
1512 Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel
1517 Luther publishes his Ninety-Five Theses
1519 Charles of Spain elected Holy Roman Emperor; Magellan begins first round- the-world voyage; da Vinci dies
1521–1551 Early Missions
1525 In Germany, Anabaptist movement begins
1527 Machiavelli dies
1531 The “Great Comet” (Halley’s Comet) creates stir
1534 Henry VIII named head of English church
1536 John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion
1540 Jesuit order approved by the Pope
1543 Copernicus’s Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies
1545-1563 Council of Trent reforms the Catholic church
1551–1600 Church Consolidation
1559 John Knox returns turns to Scotland and begins Scottish Reformation
1561 Tulips from the Far East first come to Europe
1565 Teresa of Avila’s Way of Perfection
1567 Two million Indians in South America die of typhoid fever
1588 England defeats Spanish Armada, marking the end of Spanish domination of the seas
1600–1810 Resurgence & Affluence
1605 Shakespeare’s MacBeth
1611 King James Bible published
1620 Pilgrims found Plymouth Colony
1648 Peace of Westphalia concludes European wars of religion
1678 Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress
1687 Newton’s Principia
1738 John and Charles Wesley’s conversions
1740 The Great Awakening peaks
1742 Handel’s Messiah
1776 Declaration of Independence; Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations
1789 The French Revolution; U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
Thomas S. Giles is project editor for Christianity Today.
Copyright © 1992 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine.Click here for reprint information on Christian History.
